much in Rome.

The Académie des Beaux-Arts was established by Louis XIV., and there was
a rapidly growing interest in art. As yet, however, the women of France
affected literature rather than painting, and in the seventeenth century
they were remarkable for their scholarly attainments and their influence
in the world of letters.

Madame de Maintenon patronized learning; at the Hôtel Rambouillet men and
women of genius met the world of rank and fashion on common ground.
Madame Dacier, of whom Voltaire said, "No woman has ever rendered greater
services to literature," made her translations from the classics; Madame
de Sevigné wrote her marvellous letters; Mademoiselle de Scudéry and
Madame Lafayette their novels; Catherine Bernard emulated the manner of
Racine in her dramas; while Madame de Guyon interpreted the mystic Song
of Solomon.

Of French women artists of this period we can mention several names, but
they were so overshadowed by authors as to be unimportant, unless, like
Elizabeth Chéron, they won both artistic and literary fame.

* * * * *

The seventeenth century was an age of excellence in the art of Flanders,
Belgium, and Holland, and is known as the second great epoch of painting
in the Netherlands, this name including the three countries just
mentioned.

After the calamities suffered under Charles V. and Philip II., with
returning peace and prosperity an art was developed, both original and